Astros' pitcher Collin McHugh calls out Trump over latest tweets

McHugh says his tweets were not intended to be anti-Trump, but rather an anti-bullying and pro-respect stance. (KTRK)

KTRK

Sunday, January 15, 2017

ATLANTA, GA (KTRK) --

Houston Astros pitcher Collin McHugh fired back at Donald Trump on Saturday after the president-elect sent a pair of tweets attacking civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis.

Trump zeroed in on Lewis in tweets Saturday after the Democratic representative said in an interview with NBC that he doesn't see Trump as a "legitimate president" following Russian interference in the election.

Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to......

The firestorm comes just before the nation celebrates the civil rights legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., which as McHugh notes has also rubbed some the wrong way. Lewis was among those who walked alongside King during the civil rights movement.

Lewis is one of the last surviving central organizing figures of the U.S. civil rights movement and was beaten by police in a march for voting rights on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

McHugh later added that defending Lewis was not intended to be an anti-Trump position, but rather an anti-bullying and pro-respect stance.